KALEVALA - A FINNISH PROGRESSIVE ROCK EPIC

Some may have noticed that i'm wading through some triple albums of late. I say wading because many of these include three discs with well over 70 minutes of music on each disc.This one is closer to eighty minutes per disc including the first one which is over 82 1/2 minutes long ! So yeah were approaching 4 hours of music here. Again this is a concept album but this time we get 30 bands (10 per disc) doing a track each. I was thinking of giving this a 4 star rating after the first two discs but the third disc was a huge letdown. I'll comment on the songs that I feel were worth 4 stars or at least were close enough for me to bump them up to that rating.

Disc One starts off great with HAIKARA giving us an 11 1/2 minute track. Keyboards and cymbals to start then it turns dark with violin. It kicks in before 2 minutes. Nice bass with piano 4 minutes in then the tempo picks up. Great sound here. Organ before 6 1/2 minutes as the drums pound. It settles with female vocal melodies before 8 minutes.The tempo continues to change. SINKADUS does me proud with their usual prominant bass / mellotron combo. One of my favourite tracks right here. MOONGARDEN's track isn't as strong in fact it's closer to 3.5 stars but I get drawn in by those vocals. MAGENTA's is a low 4 stars. Gotta love Christina's vocals. I like the instrumental section before 4 minutes to 6 1/2 minutes.It's fairly heavy. CLEARLIGHT finishes Disc One in a surprising way as the singer reminds me of Peter Gabriel. I like this track a lot and in fact half of Disc One is well done.

Disc Two starts off well with a band I hadn't heard of in ORCHARD.These Norwegians use mellotron, flute and picked guitar in contrast to heavier sections very well. MUSEO ROSENBACH's tune might be the best on here.Those classic Italian vocals and powerful sound just blow me away here. Incredible ! LEVIATHAN was a surprise for me.Very enjoyable and the sound late is gorgeous. MALIBRAN also impresses. Nice chunky bass and flue too. Killer guitar late as well. Sofia Baccini I hadn't heard of but she impressed me alot. Mellotron and atmosphere with those vocal melodies are both moving and powerful. So like the first disc I really enjoyed half of the songs.

Unfortunately the Disc Three falls flat. What did they leave the worst for last on purpose ? RANDONE and a Jazz band called WHOBODIES were the closest tracks to 4 stars but both are closer to 3.5.

So 3 stars it is with some real gems scattered around.